


Not Just For Humans

by Abubble124



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Fluff and Angst, I'm Sorry, M/M, Not Beta Read, POV First Person, Rebellion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abubble124/pseuds/Abubble124
Summary: We can all admit that the Lost Cities are classist. They’re prejudiced. It’s not okay. Dexter Diznee is among the working class and his family is going to fix their world’s problems. And of course, it would not be a perfect story without  Dexter Diznee falling for a certain teal eyed Vacker. Spoiler alert, it’s not Biana.
Relationships: Dex Dizznee/Fitz Vacker
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey ppl. I'll try to update as soon as I possibly can, but I make no promises. I've also never uploaded on A03 before and idk how it works so please bear with me

It’s Saturday. If I’m not hanging out with my friends or doing something to save the Elvin world, I’m at Slurps and Burps. The elvin world hasn’t needed many favors and my friends have taken to hanging out in the evenings, so I’m stuck behind the counter. I’m mixing a potion that turns your tongue green when Sophie Foster walks in with my father.   
I phrased that wrong. That would imply that they were walking in together. My Father just happened to come in the door two seconds after Sophie walked into the shop. My parents pretty much trust me to run the store now, so they leave and get things done while I’m working in it. It’s rather convenient. I have the store to myself to do things like make green tongue elixirs instead of cough syrup. I also get paid, so I can do stupid things like put a secret contraption in my room that gives me Mallowmelt when I tell it to.   
“Hey Dex,” Sophie says, going deeper into the store to look for something.   
“Hey Fos Bos,” I reply. She turns over her shoulder to glare at me. I send her a wink and then turn back to my elixir, which needed to be stirred. My father goes into the back of the store, I can hear him grumbling as he digs around looking for something. He comes back to the front of the store with a large box of different ingredients. During business hours we make elixirs up in the front instead of in the back room.   
“Hey,” my father says to me. He looks at the little vat I’ve made of green-tongue elixir warily. “What you got there son?” I smile sheepishly,  
“Noottthhhiiiinnngggg,” he nods his head,   
“Mhm, so believable. I totally believe you. Just, when you’re done with whatever that is please work on something people actually want to buy,” I nod at him, we both know I will. My parents stopped funding my gadget making a while ago and I need a steady income. I use a lot of wire. He digs around a little in the box he brought out.  
“Cassius wants me to brew him a potion that we don’t stock,” he mutters half to me half to himself. “Oh, Kesler, do me a favor,” he mocks, “I need something that’ll make Keefe concentrate harder, nothing too strong, just strong enough for him to actually care about his empathy. No big deal Kesler, no big deal,” my father is fuming. People come to him all the time to ask him to make things that he doesn’t normally make. “You’re talentless, so you don’t belong with us, but you make elixirs that work so when we think you’re useful I’ll shower you with compliments and large amounts of lusters,” we don’t need the money. All elves are given the same amount when they are born, so the idea of a class system is rudimentary and not necessary. “If it’s so important,” my father mutters, “make it yourself,” Sophie comes to the front of the store as my father mutters something about being putty in their hands. She puts several vials on the counter. Just generic medicinal ones for coughs and headaches and such. She digs around in her pockets for her lusters when I wave her hand away.  
“On me Sophie,” Again, money is pointless. Unless… “Dad, you know what we could do?” He looks up from his box as Sophie puts the vials in her pockets. They both turn to me. “We could raise prices. They can’t do it themselves, so if we wanted to charge a hundred lusters instead of ten, they would have to pay,” at the same time, Sophie goes  
“Dex, that’s genius,” and my father goes,  
“That would never work,” my father crumples his brow, “They can just go buy from someone else, what about other people like us?” By us he means the working class. He can’t bring himself to say it. Sophie and I are getting excited now.  
“We get the rest of the apothecaries to raise their prices too,” I say. This makes my father nod, “We use the same prices for people who own businesses, or we get everyone to do the same thing,”  
“I could get Grady and Edaline in on it too,” Sophie says, “And we could get Stina and the Heks in too,” My father is brightening now.   
“It’s time for an emergency apothecary meeting,”  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The guild of apothecarists is not the biggest, or the best of all the guilds. There’s about twelve apothecaries across the lost cities. Twelve people with either no powers or less powerful ones like polyglots. Most of the time the guild meetings are just the families getting together for dinner and light discussion on the topic of elixirs and potions. It happens about twice a month. But today is different. There’s only about twenty people in the room, and Sophie and I are the only children in the room. Sophie is getting some strange looks. We’re sitting at the dining table at Rimeshire. My mother is on one side of me, Sophie on the other.   
Nobody’s ever called an emergency meeting of the apothecary guild before.  
My father is standing at the front of the room with an empty black board and some chalk. He could use telekinesis but he prefers to write it out.   
“I bet you are all wondering why I called this meeting,” my father says. An amorphous blob of affirmation sounds course through the room.   
“I have a high commissioned elixir that needs to be brewed Kesler!” Someone yells. My father uses this as an opening.  
“And this is what we’re going to change!” He’s getting excited now. He writes on the board “Raise Prices”. “I’m done being treated like trash! We’re not just vessels with which you get what we want. We’re elves too!” People start what he means, cheers fill the room. “If we all raise our prices then they have to buy from one of us!” He yells, “We get other professions in on it too. The bakers! The Animal Rehabilitators! Tailors! They can’t do it themselves, they’ll have to pay!” Everyone is standing now. I turn to Sophie, she twirls me in her arms.  
It’s Happening.  
It’s Really Happening.


	2. Pay Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dex gets some killer advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know the tags say fluff, but it's gonna take at least four chapters for there to be fluff. Sorry!!

We all decided to close early on Saturday. I am just waiving the fee of some hair dye from a lady who owns the bakery next door when Sophie Foster walks in. She’s carrying several wooden signs painted over in big bold letters. Across the front of the first sign is written “YOU’RE NO BETTER,” in navy blue. Across the bottom she painted little golden coins in large piles. The other sports the words “WE’RE ALL THE SAME” In a blood red. Sophie obviously picked up the sign before it was dry so the red is slightly drippy. It looks like a bloodbath. I immediately grab at it,  
“I want this one,” I pull the horror movie of a sign closer to me.   
“Yeah, I thought so,” Sophie sighs, as the baker lady leaves the store, looking at me slightly warily. Sophie grins at me, her smile glinting sharply in the light of the store.

I wonder how I ever thought I loved her. 

She’s pretty, yes, but looking at her doesn’t entrap me. Her laugh doesn’t suck me into heaven, her smile doesn’t make me want to claw my way out of hell. The thought of her doesn’t swallow me whole as I lie awake at night when my insomnia refuses to let me close my eyes, and that is what Keefe told me love is supposed to feel like. Keefe is a good consultant when it comes to feelings. He gave me the best advice I’ve ever gotten. It was a few days after Sophie and I kissed.  
“Dex,” he had said, “Do you love her, really? I don’t think you do. You said there was no spark, but if you loved her there would have been. If you really love someone no matter how much they don’t like you back there’s a spark. Every time you glance at her there should be a spark, every time you make eye contact you should feel fireworks. The flame of your love sits inside of you like a roaring fire, and her voice should feel like the campfire song. Do you love her, really? Or is convincing yourself you do the way your brain fed you denial? Do you really love her, or are you just gay?”  
I mean, he made me cry, and It’s not really advice, but I decided to read it as such. I think he just likes Sophie. Oh right. Sophie. She’s waving her hand in front of my face, looking slightly concerned.   
“Sorry, I was spacing out,”   
“Evidently. Ready to go?” I nod. I go to the door, digging around in my pockets for the keys to the shop. I have to pull out several bits of wire, a couple switches, and a miny wrench before I find the key. Everybody else calls it my pocket trash, but I call it my pocket treasure. I switch the lights out and turn the sign in the window to say we’re closed. Ushering Sophie out of the door I lock it shut.   
And then we start running. The streets are busy, but the people in them seem to part for the leader of Team Valiant and one of its members. Though, in this district, it is more likely that they are parting for the son of one of the better apothecaries and his cousin. We hold the signs overhead as we run towards the fountain in the middle of the shopping district. A couple shop owners lean out of their windows and doors to whoop at us. Sophie is screaming, “You’re no better!” at the top of her lungs. I run behind her, letting my jarring sign speak for itself. We reach the fountain. Every time I look at it, it makes me cringe. It’s a depiction of one of Fitz’s oldest Vacker relatives, before his ears got pointy, giving a shopkeeper the first key to the first building in the shopping district.Grady and Edaline are standing with wooden signs like Sophie’s, little animals looking angry painted on them. My parents are both holding signs made of cardboard. Painted in the top corner of both their signs is a large vial, tipped over, pouring out the words “You made the money system, and now you’ll pay”. My siblings don’t hold signs, but they painted lusters onto their faces, and are now screaming at the top of their lungs. The other apothecary owning families and the Heks along with other assorted animal trainers stand with other cleverly titled signs circling the fountain. Sophie and I join the rotation. My father starts a chant.  
“And now you’ll pay!” it’s slow to catch within the group at first. And then slowly, one by one, we join my father in his war cry.  
“And now you’ll pay!” There are some richer looking elves standing around, looking at us warily, but we don’t care.   
“And now you’ll pay!” And that’s when I notice the baker lady from earlier coming out of her store, locking the door, and then coming to stand with us. She joins in with our screams, pumping her fists above her heads. Slowly, a couple people at a time come out of their stores, pushing the wealthy elves out in front of them, and locking their doors behind them.  
“And now you’ll pay!” The last of the shopkeepers ushers the last of the people out of their stores as they come and join us. The street is busy now. There’s several rings of people circling around the fountain now, and about half as many better off’s watching us unfavorably. Sophie and I are still in the middle ring, closest to the fountain. I grab her hand and pull her to stand on the thin rim of the fountain, holding the sign above my head. The crowd quiets at the sight of me.   
“For too long, we’ve been silenced!” I scream, the crowd cheers. My eyes catch with the people watching, I take a second to hold the eyes of a woman with aqua eyes. “We’ve done your bidding, we’ve let you sweep us under the rug until you found us useful! We’re not dust bunnies, we’re elves too!” I hold up Sophie’s hand above us in one hand, and my sign in the other. “For too long you’ve held us in your hands like little pets that make you potions and cakes! And now you’ll pay!”  
“And Now You’ll Pay!” My people scream to their people.   
And now they’ll pay.


	3. Right Here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The romance begins. And also Dex comes out.

The bakers, the barbers, the tailors and the jewlers. They’re with us. The entire shopping district is with us. We’re back to closing at our normal time, but Sophie, a rotating handful of others, and I always get in some good protesting and canvassing after class and work. A person dressed in emissary robes is counting out his coin, trying to pay for headache medication. The single vial sits on the counter as he picks out 98, 99, 100 lusters and slides them over the counter. I count them quickly and then smile sickly at the emissary,  
“Have a good day,” I croon. The emissary mutters something not so pleasant under his breath as he exits the store. I slide the lusters into the box under the counter. It’s rather large. The lusters don’t fit in the cash register anymore. My parents walk in with Sophie and my heart leaps.   
I know I should come out. I know. I know. It should be soon. I’ve been keeping it a secret for so long it’s bound to come pouring out of me, like soda bubbling out of a shaken can. A can that’s been shaken for years. It ought to be flat and yet, it’s still inside of me. A big, rainbow, blob. I think to myself. Evasive inside of me, untrappable, a strange feeling. No. A queer feeling. I snort at my pathetic excuse for a joke, and glance up from the piece of wire I was fidgeting with to look up at my three favorite people in the world, who are looking at me peculiarly. I blush and go back to fidgeting with the wire, my ears and cheeks as red as the first stripe in the rainbow. That thought makes me blush even harder. I can’t stop it. I can’t I can’t I can’t. I can’t bury it any longer, inside of me. I can’t hide it any longer behind the dusty memories of my childhood. No device, or gadget can hide it. I hear my parents talking.  
“Well it’s going to be a little longer Juline, they have tons of money,”  
“I know that. You know I know that, but don’t think I don’t enjoy watching them count out seventy lusters for a loaf of bread like they don’t have anymore,” my father snorts. My parents go back and forth at each other, talking about various uprising related topics. I hear Sophie launch herself onto the counter that I’m sitting behind. She crosses her legs and props her chin on the hands. I can feel her gaze on me, burning into the top of my head. My parents chattering in the background, Sophie feeling at a couple bottles on the counter, the clinking loud in my ears. It’s too much. The noise amplifies in my head, I can hear the blood pumping through my body, the lights too bright, the wire too cold. It’s too much. I snap my head up,  
“I’m gay,” I say. Not loudly, but not quietly either. Loud enough that my three favorite people notice. They turn to look at me, stunned. “I’m gay,” I repeat for them, slightly louder and far more confident. “I’m gay, and I know that it’s not okay. I tried to hide it, I tried to get rid of it, I tried and I tried, but I couldn’t. I’m gay, and you can kick me out, and you can stop feeding me and you can try to get it out of me, but I tried and it didn’t work,” I take a deep breath. “I’m gay,”. They look at me, frozen in place like they don’t know what to do. But to be fair, I wouldn’t know what to do if someone had said that to me either.  
Sophie is the first to move. After a few seconds of painful silence she slides off the counter and wraps her arms around me. I freeze for a second as her warmth leeches into me. I melt into her as she mutters something under her breath into my ear about how she loved me and how it’s okay. After we part, I glance up at my parents, who are looking slightly less frozen than they were a minute ago.   
“I’m sorry you felt the need to hide this from us,” my father says,   
“I mean…” My mother goes, “I like boys too, so who are we to judge. They’re cute!” My mother pinches my father's cheek and goes into the back of the store. My father follows. Sophie pulls out a roll of a hundred lusters from her pocket and a vial from a display on the front counter. It’s dye for iggy. Periwinkle this time. I toss the roll into the bin of coins and look back up at Sophie, clearing my throat.  
“Thank you.”  
“For what? For being decent? Humane?”  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
I count out my pay for the day. A thousand lusters. It’s a lot, but we have hundreds of thousands now. Normally I got about twelve an hour, but these are not normal times. I shove them into my bag, the little gold coins resting among my screws and wrenches. It’s the evening, about six o’clock. I took the later shift today so my parents could have an afternoon to themselves. It’s been about a week since I came out. It’s been exactly the same, which is good, how it should be. Sophie says that in the human world being gay wasn’t as big a deal. I switch out the lights then close and lock the door behind me. My stomach growls as I walk away from Slurps and Burps. I run towards the end of the street, towards the fountain. I know that most of the food stores remain open a little longer, and I run around the street a little, in search of some mallowmelt or ripple puffs. I know my parents wouldn’t have wanted me to eat sweets for dinner, but that is what happens when you give teenage boys thousands of lusters and no supervision. I run past several clothing stores and get stopped short in front of a bakery.  
The owner had set up a stand on the outside, with tiers of mallowmelt and ripple puffs and other assorted sweets. But that’s not what stopped me. What stopped me was Fitz Vacker, standing at the stand, digging around in his pockets for a few more lusters. I can see the small fortune he had piled on the counter already, but I could tell he was still about thirty short of the eighty luster price of a slice of mallowmelt. As the setting sun shines in his face I walk closer. He looks… Vulnerable.  
And here it is again, this queer feeling inside me. Elusive and rainbow.   
“Um,” I say walking up to him. “Hello,” Fitz glances up at me, and then blushes. He goes back to digging in his pockets for lusters, managing to procure a few more. The shop keeper looks slightly bored as he goes,  
“That’s twenty more Mr.Vacker,” Fitz sighs shakily. Like he’s going to cry,  
“Here to make fun Dizznee?” I shift on my feet as his voice catches in his throat.   
“No.” I say, reaching into my bag. I pull out a couple rolls lusters and put them on the counter. “Two slices of mallowmelt please,” I take Fitz’s pile of lusters and hand them back to him.   
“You don’t have to do that Dex,” He says. I feel the blood rushing to my ears as my heart pumps faster from his accented voice.  
“It’s fine,” I say to him as the shopkeeper hands me the change, I slide it into my bag. “What are friends for?” He shifts uncomfortably as the baker hands me two individually packaged slices of mallowmelt. I hand Fitz one.   
“Thanks,” he says dryly. He looks around uncomfortably. It takes me a second to realize that he probably doesn’t hang around the shopping district much.   
“I uh, I know a park, if you want to eat there,” I say. He looks startled, and slightly freaked out. “You don’t have to,” I say flustered. “It’s just that you look like you don’t know what to do with yourself.” Watching Fitz Vacker get flustered is a glorious sight, comparable to Sliveny flying through rainbows and Sophie's reaction to all the glorious colors I force upon her imp.   
“Yeah,” he manages to get out of his mouth. “Yeah that would be great,” We walk away from the baker. I wave to the shopkeepers closing up their stores for the evening. Some of them throw me things. It’s wonderful, being the lead of a revolution. I manage to acquire a bracelet made of a shiny material, and several strange looking fruits by the time we reach the entrance of the park.  
Fitz Vacker might not know where he fits in, but I do know where I do.  
And It’s right here.


	4. Bold Moves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who actually reads the chapter summaries of the middle chapters? I'm not spoiling this gorgeous chapter, you'll just have to read it to find out what happens.

Fitz looks uncomfortable. We chose a bench towards the back of the park, surrounded by big trees, taller than my house and Everglan combined. We’re sitting cross legged, facing each other. It is unfortunate Fitz looks uncomfortable, but also even more unfortunately, Fitz looks pretty. Fitz looks gorgeous and handsome and like everything I will never be. The sun is setting, the golden light pealing down on him. The fading sunshine streams through his eyelashes and I am overwhelmed. As he awkwardly shoves Mallowmelt into his mouth I am faced with the question.  
Do I have a crush on Fitz Vacker?  
I will explain my thought process to you. I don’t think I like Fitz. I didn’t think I liked Fitz. I mean, I thought I liked Sophie but the idea of being straight makes me cringe now so I don’t think that my ability to put a finger on my feelings is that great. I glance at my mallowmelt, still wrapped in plastic. I unwrap the shiny material and shove it into my pocket with the key to Slurps and Burps and my wire end collection. Do I like Fitz? I take a bite of mallowmelt and I think about pre Sophie times. He’d call me Deck, and pretend I was trash. I didn’t like him then, I knew that much.   
“So,” He says, snapping me out of my stupor. I can tell he remains uncomfortable. We’re getting a few strange and dirty looks from passersbys. This park isn’t well known among the higher classes of Elves, and most of the lower classes don’t take kindly to families like the Vackers. “How have you been?” His accent trips me up. How long has it been doing that? I try to think back to a time when the sound of his voice didn’t make my heart flip three times. I can’t find one.   
“Good,” I say cautiously, trying not to stutter. “I-uh, as you may have noticed, I started an uprising,” he doesn’t smile. I am surprised at how much I miss the sight of it. The sides of his mouth slightly turned up, his head tipped back slightly. Quite the opposite of what he’s doing now.  
“Yes. I noticed,” it’s awkward. Why is it awkward? It shouldn’t be awkward. I glance up at him but he’s busy looking anywhere but my eyes. I watch his eyes for a second, teal and bright as they scan the park. I let my eyes, just for a second hold on his lips, wondering how they felt. Did I like Fitz? I blink away from his mouth.  
“I’m sorry,” I say. This snaps his eyes right into mine. It takes all of my focus not to glance away. I hold his gaze, steady and fragile.   
“For what?” It’s become a staring contest now. I can feel the tension melting off of us like ice in the sun.   
“I dunno, you’ve obviously been affected by it. I think at some point, we’re going to start causing more pain than good,” he tips his head back, and I can see the smile creeping up his face as my eyes burn.  
“We had it coming for us. It’s not like I’m actually useful,” his eyes crinkle and I’m sure that if I broke our steadfast gaze I would see his lips crawling up his cheeks. It makes me sad that he finds this a joke.   
“You’re plenty useful Fitz,” I say. That makes him snap. His eyes tear away from mine, his smile falls. He blinks several times, shaking the burn of the staring contest out of his head. I blink at the grace in the motion he had just made.   
“I’m not. I can’t do alchemy or build gadgets like you do. I can’t be as great a telepath as Sophie, I can’t even be a good boyfriend to Sophie,” I must’ve made a strange look because Fitz blushes and goes “not that I’m even her boyfriend anymore,” we’re both blushing now. Why am I blushing? UGH. FEELINGS. Do I have them? I mean, obviously I have them, stirring inside me like Keefe said they would, but do I have them for Fitz?   
“You’re not useless Fitz. I could teach you to do alchemy, it’s not that hard,” he tips his head back.  
“Not going to say anything about Sophie then?” It’s a bold move. I know it’s a bold move. What does he want from me? Does he know I like him? Do I know I like him? No. To both. The answer has to be no to both.   
“What do you want me to say Fitz?” I don’t know what’s happening. It’s going a little too fast for me to follow.   
“Didn’t you like her?” Another bold move. It’s like he’s bringing a red paint brush across my black canvass of… Innocence? I don’t know. It was a good metaphor until it wasn’t. Though there isn’t any fun in a game of one though is there? I lock eyes with him.   
“I’m gay,” this takes him a second to process. At first he’s startled, but it’s his fault. He shouldn’t have been so blunt if he hadn’t wanted me to be blunt back. But then he looks relieved. Why does he look relieved? I pinch my face into a mask of confusion. It isn’t very hard, because I am very confused.  
“What?” He asks me.  
“You look relieved,” I say.  
“It’s because I am,” He scoots closer to me. I can see his composure melting. His slightly to straight back, his pinched shoulders. Our knees touch for a second as he settles down again. I feel the residual spark from our short contact shoot up me. I cock my head to the side.  
“And why is that?” He looks surprised again, as if he wasn’t expecting me to ask him. I glances up at me vulnerably and then down at his hands, where a half eaten slice of mallowmelt sits.   
“I didn’t want to be a disappointment twice,” he says quietly after a second. Before I can ask a followup he continues, “I didn’t want to be a bad match with Sophie. I wouldn’t have cared, I really wouldn’t have if I didn’t have this, thing inside me. I don’t think I could take it, being a bad match and being bisexual. I don’t think anybody in my family could take it, I think I would be outcast from having the Vacker name,” he’s shaking. I can feel the reverberation of the word Bisexual bouncing around inside of me. Bisexual Bisexual Bisexual.I make another bold move and take his hand. He smiles mischievously, and makes the boldest move of all.  
And he kisses me.   
It becomes pretty clear that I like Fitz Vacker and even clearer that Fitz Vacker likes me too.


	5. Like Puzzle Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF AND BADASSERY THAT IS ALL.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this fanfiction was going to be over before Unlocked but it might not be. This story is cannon compliant with the events of Legacy with the exception of Dex and Fitz being gay disasters, but it will not be cannon compliant with the events of Unlocked. Here’s to hoping that with Keefe’s POV we find out that he’s totally gay for Tam and has been using fake love for Sophie to hide it.  
> ALSO. The formatting for this Fic is really weird. I know. I'm really sorry, I'm on mobile and I have no clue how to fix it.

Fitz Vacker and I fit. Like pieces of a puzzle we fit. His rough edges click in with mine. He’s bad at Alchemy, I’m great at it. He’s good at conversations and I trip over my own words. We have ourselves figured out, I, the gay, and he, all of the perfect things in the world including the fact that he’s gay for me. Me. Not Keefe, not Tam, Me. And, he’s just the perfect amount taller than I am. I stand just the right amount up on my tippy toes to kiss him and when I lean into him he can rest his chin on my head. I am sitting in Slurps and Burps waiting for Fitz to show up. I promised him lessons in Alchemy at two AM over imparter the other night. Another two pieces that fit, agreeing that sleep is for losers when there is conversation to be had. A noble is counting out her change. She counts out two hundred lusters for a couple vials of cold medications. I almost feel bad for her. Not them, because in this world it’s us or them and I am not a traitor, but I feel bad for the individuals who have to scrape for hair dye to keep up the idea that their roots don’t grey. She counts out the last ten of her lusters as my boyfriend walks in, holding the door open for someone wearing a hood pulled so far over their head I can’t see their face. Fitz is looking at them confusedly. We both watch as the hooded figure slides an envelope over the counter as they exit the shop with the noble.  
“Huh,” I say, looking at the envelope. I gesture with one hand for Fitz to come to my side of the counter as I pick up the envelope to inspect it further. “Think it’s a bomb?” He laughs. Oh, what a sound. Like the roar of the ocean and the rustling of wind through trees. The feeling of a room full of people and the dog choosing you. If I were to go deaf I’d want his laugh to be the last thing I hear. My name is in curly writing across the front. Dexter Alvin Dizznee. I shudder at my middle name. Sophie told me that in the Forbidden Cities there’s a singing chipmunk with the name Alvin and ever since, I’ve hated it. I break open the back of the envelope and pull out a sheet of paper, sliding one of my hands into Fitz’s as I read the words.  
The Council Of The Lost Cities has asked for a meeting with Dexter Alvin Dizznee (They’ve written my name in a pre-typed card) At Four in the Afternoon at the Seat Of Eminence Today.  
Fitz is reading over my shoulder.  
“I wonder what that’s about,” he says, stiffening his grip on me. I don’t know how he feels about Team Valiant, but nobody likes to be left behind. I know how it feels to be unwanted. This thought prompts me to glance over at a shelf in the back corner of the shop. It’s a shelf of random gadgets I’ve made, on the bottom in the back corner I put Sophie’s old enhancer nails, the ones that became too weak for her after she reset her powers.  
“I dunno.They probably have a new assignment for us,” I say, tearing my glance away from the only proof that I’ve been useful to glance up at Fitz. He flinches at the word us. It makes me sad, the only us he should be worrying about is the us that is our relationship. I stand up on my toes to kiss him. He’s surprised at first, giving a cute little squeak as he closes his eyes. We’re laughing as I cup his face with the hand that isn’t still holding his. Our lips lock. Two more pieces that fit. His other hand goes to my waist. I can feel it shaking with his laughter.  
Never has love ever made me so joyously happy.  
We part, he’s grinning. I can’t believe I ever thought I didn’t like him, I almost melt into a puddle at the sight of his smile.  
“What was that for?” He asks me.  
“Like I need a reason,” I retort, bringing my hand off his face. His smile widens, dimples form at the base of his cheeks. This makes me even more happy. I’ve never seen his dimples before. I think at the sight of them my face lights up even more, because Fitz goes,  
“What?”  
“It’s just. It’s just,” I stand up on my toes again, using my hand to push his head to the side so I can kiss the dimple. “Dimple” I say. He laughs. No, he guffaws. His head tips back in a giggle, and glances at the ceiling. “Anyway,” I untwine our fingers and reach under the counter for some random alchemy supplies, setting them on top of the random mess of wires and lusters that is the countertop. Inspecting the ingredients I find just the right amount to make pink hair dye. I dig around under the counter for the gallon size cauldron I keep next to the box of lusters.  
“What am I looking at?” Fitz asks, holding up a brownish vial to a ray of sun.  
“Gulon Poop. Main ingredient in most hair dye,” Fitz whistles. What a sound. I swear, every sound to come out of his mouth is sorcery. He’s an ethereal being made of magic and sunshine and rainbows.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Fitz and I step outside after a solid hour and a half of ‘alchemy’. I lock the door behind us as Sophie and Stina walk up, holding protesting signs under their arms looking pink and winded from the screaming and the protesting. They’re also both holding envelopes similar to mine. At this point they both know about Fitz and I. Basically everyone knows about us at this point. Most of them were… Fine. Most of the elves were fine with it. Our friends were cool with it, but I don’t know about the rest of the Elvin world. I reach for Fitz’s hand. I can see a mother and a child looking at us warily. I flinch.  
One revolution at a time I guess.  
Fitz is looking at the envelopes in their hands, and then back to mine.  
“I guess this is my cue then,” he says. I want to take him with me, but I can’t. I stand up on my toes to kiss him on the cheek, then dig around in my pocket for the leaping crystals I got from the Councillors leading to The Seat of Eminence.  
“Ready?” I ask, turning away from my boyfriend to look at Sophie and Stina. They nod at me, I hold the crystal up to the light. We step in.  
We step inside the building, per usual we light up. I look around, Biana and Wylie are nowhere to be seen. The twelve Councillors step into the light, per usual looking all shiny and magical. They look angry. The three of us scoot closer to each other. I feel Sophie’s hand slip into one of mine and Stina’s into my other. It takes me a second to realize. Wylie isn’t here. I’m the ‘strong male presence’. It takes all of my self control not to burst out laughing at the thought. Sophie could protect the three of us better than I could. I try not to think about how Stina can feel everything I’m feeling.  
“You need to stop,” Emery says. Even lacking the Empathy Ability I can feel how confused Sophie and Stina are.  
“Stop what?” Stina asks,  
“Sir,” I add after her. It doesn’t look like any of the Council is happy with our responses.  
“The whole, let’s get rid of the classism act,” Emery says. I can tell he’s telepathically talking to the other Councillors because I see him nod and flinch. He wants us to stop. They want us to stop. Sophie squeezes my hand. I take this as a signal and squeeze Stina’s.  
“I mean no disrespect Sir,” Sophie says, keeping her gaze calmly on Emery. “I really don’t, but that’s not going to happen,” I knew this was coming but it hits me in the face anyway. Instead of looking at us like we’re crazy Stina is nodding along to what we’re saying.  
“We’ve gone too far in to turn around and stop now Sir,” I say,  
“There’s no stopping the entire working class,” Stina says,  
“Sir,”  
“Sir.” The Councillors grunt in frustration. I hear one of them mutter something under their breath along the lines of ‘teenagers, bad, and moody’.  
“For too long we’ve been silenced,” Sophie starts, cutting herself off so I can finish.  
“And now you’ll pay.”


	6. Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Literally nobody reads this. Fluff fluff fluffy fluff.

I am sitting on the counter watching Fitz make a hair dye. He’s made a lot of them, and we sell them. He’s pouring gulon poop into a bubbling yellow concoction. Alchemy is weird. 

“I wish you’d let me pay you,” I say to him.

“Don’t need it,” he replies, his brow furrowing as the mixture turns a snotty green. It is not supposed to be a snotty green. I snort, and then watch as he fixes it, pouring in a powdery mixture of artificial unicorn horn and ground feathers. It turns the pink color it’s supposed to be.  
“You sure looked like you needed it when I bought you Mallowmelt,” color flushes to his cheeks. 

“I’ll pay you back,” 

“Don’t bother. You’ve more than made up for it. I should be paying you,”

“I don’t need it. We’ve got plenty of money. That’s the point of this whole thing,” I raise an eyebrow. 

“This whole thing?” He reddens more. 

“Sorry. This whole...Revolution?” I laugh, tipping my chin up slightly. He glances up at me, red as a tomato. I bring his face towards mine with my hand. I have to lean down slightly because of my tall vantage point on the cluttered countertop. He presses his forehead into mine, the pink fading from his cheeks. I push our lips together. The familiar buzz comes through me, comforting and warming. We part as the hair dye boils over onto the counter. I manage to slide off the counter before it can get on my clothes, but some of the clutter on the counter couldn’t say the same. Several wires were now coated in a shiny pink wax, a thin strip of metal fizzes away into nothingness, and an empty glass vial shatters. 

All of these things are cheap and replaceable.

My team Valiant crest however, is not. 

I’ve still got the Moon and Sunlight ones, but the Starlight badge is sitting on the counter bright pink and half deteriorated. I’d taken it off after our last conversation with the council, trading it for the Dizznee crest, and letting it slide into the mess. Fitz notices it and curses under his breath several times as he picks it up to review the damage.

“It’s fine,” I told him. He shakes his head.

“It’s not,” he hands it over to me. It was a permanent dye. I can tell that it’s not coming off.

“It totally is. It doesn’t matter very much,” Team Valiant mattered a lot to me until it didn't’. Back when my family was lower on the Elvin hierarchy and I had to fight to be seen.

Now all I’ve got to do is step outside and people are calling out to me. 

I dig under the counter for the other two crests. I keep them at Slurps and Burps so the triplets can’t get to them. I pull them out and drop them into what’s left of the mixture. They sizzle as they turn pink.

“It’s fine. I don’t need them to feel needed anymore,”

“The council won’t like it,”

“I’m sure it’s the least of their worries concerning me,” I crack a mischievous grin. This makes him smile. It’s a small one, the sides of his mouth tilting slightly, a slight lift of his chin. 

“I love you,” he says. It’s random. It’s not the response I was expecting, but we knew it was coming for us eventually. I can feel the words as the come from his lips and float into my ears. For a second there’s no issues in the lost cities. No classism, no wary council, no hierarchy. There’s nothing except us for those seconds as I repeat his words back to him.

“I love you too.”


End file.
